First off, I noticed that there aren't as many themes for this winter wave as usual, which surprises me. After checking bricklink, there are only four liscensed theme so far. After a quick peek at Eurobricks, which mostly is BS, I saw that they, too, had a LoTR discussion thread, so I thought, maybe, just maybe, LoTR has a chance. Unfortunately, there has been no Castle/Kingdoms pictures out, so LoTR seems like a good replacement. Any thoughts?

EDIT: Lego loves to make sets that go along with new movies, so why not do it with this [url=one]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hobbit_(2012_film)[/url]?

Last edited by CommandoMando on 11/21/2011, 4:27 pm; edited 1 time in total

I have read all of the books, and I do not think they would come out well as LEGO sets. The books are so detailed, that there is no way $50 worth of LEGO can even come close to copying one area from the book. I even have a problem with Games Workshop, the people who get payed to make games of LOTR, and for $100 worth of molded plastic it does not even come close..

Octan wrote:I have read all of the books, and I do not think they would come out well as LEGO sets. The books are so detailed, that there is no way $50 worth of LEGO can even come close to copying one area from the book. I even have a problem with Games Workshop, the people who get payed to make games of LOTR, and for $100 worth of molded plastic it does not even come close..

Yeah they probably would. Also being from New Zealand, I have to point out that the films were made here, so...woohoo...LEGO might be making something from my country.....if they base it on the film that is....

I agree, it would be AWESOME! But! The Orcs, Uruk-Hai, and other misc. characters almost seem too scary for younger audiences.. I think it would appeal to the teens/adults who love LOTR, but it would have to be kept safely away from the eyes of young children..

The_Custom_one wrote:I agree, it would be AWESOME! But! The Orcs, Uruk-Hai, and other misc. characters almost seem too scary for younger audiences.. I think it would appeal to the teens/adults who love LOTR, but it would have to be kept safely away from the eyes of young children..

Or they could do the Hobbit, it is a lot less Creepy and Scary for young Children. Plus it does not have as much detail as the other books, and they could make decent sets of it.

There have been rumours circulating for a few months, which of course we couldn't publish here, but now the biggest news story of the year is official.

From Variety, published at 8am GMT today:

Lego has found its next precious

Warner Bros. Consumer Products has awarded the toymaker the rights to create action figures and playsets based on "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and the two upcoming films based on "The Hobbit," the first of which bows at the end of 2012.

The multiyear deal grants Lego access to the library of characters, settings and stories of "The Lord of the Rings," "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" and "The Hobbit: There and Back Again," all helmed by Peter Jackson.

The first toys Lego plans to produce will hit store shelves in June, tied to "Lord of the Rings," with new construction sets planned for the weeks leading up to the Dec. 14 bow of "An Unexpected Journey."

"Only Lego, with their expertise in the construction category, is capable of doing justice to the incredibly imaginative environments depicted in the world of 'The Lord of the Rings' and the two films based on 'The Hobbit,'" said Karen McTier, executive VP, domestic licensing and worldwide marketing, Warner Bros. Consumer Products. "These films give life to amazing worlds and characters and we are thrilled to bring fans these products that deliver an imaginative play experience befitting of these beloved properties."

Warner Bros. has a long history with Lego.

Lego has produced toys around the studio's "Harry Potter" franchise, the Batman and "Speed Racer" pics and now the entire DC Comics library. Lego also has tied toys to Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Toy Story," "Cars" and "Prince of Persia" pics, and has long had the "Star Wars" and "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" license.

Warner Bros.' Lego-made DC toys are also expected to hit store shelves next year, the same time Lego will also release its Marvel line, tied to Sony's "The Amazing Spider-Man" and Disney's "The Avengers."

"Our collaboration with Warner Bros. Consumer Products has delivered numerous worldwide successes in the construction toy aisle, introducing us to loyal audiences who love great stories, strong characters and the toys that they inspire," said Jill Wilfert, VP, licensing and entertainment for the Lego Group. "It's particularly exciting to now be able to create sets based on the fantasy worlds and characters from 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy and 'The Hobbit,' not only because we know they will foster collectability and creative play, but also because these are two properties that our fans have been asking us to create for years."

Going after film franchises has paid off for Lego, with "Harry Potter" and "Star Wars" helping the toymaker top $1 billion in sales in the U.S. for the first time in 2010, a figure it's confident to repeat again this year. Altogether, sales are up 106% for the fourth-largest toymaker since 2006, the company has said.

This year, shipments of Legos to stores between August and October are up more than 65%, according to Panjiva, a New York-based data firm.

--

Has there ever been a better time to be a LEGO fan? There's so much cool stuff coming our way that I really think we are in a new 'golden age' of LEGO, one that surpasses that which many of us remember from our childhood.

I can't believe TLG is doing this. They had their chance when the movies were out. Honestly without new media attention I don't think it will last much longer than Speed Racer sets did. And they even had media attention.

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You guys do realize that LOTR is one of the most popular movies/books among the homeschool community, and not to mention, is also one of the most popular sets of Media out there. With at least 15 books by J.R.R. Tolkien, about the LOTR. And the trilogy and the Hobbit and about 10-30 years worth of a world that is thousands of years old. They could quite easily expand on this.

The_Custom_one wrote:You guys do realize that LOTR is one of the most popular movies/books among the homeschool community, and not to mention, is also one of the most popular sets of Media out there. With at least 15 books by J.R.R. Tolkien, about the LOTR. And the trilogy and the Hobbit and about 10-30 years worth of a world that is thousands of years old. They could quite easily expand on this.

Plus tons of fan-fiction (Most of it horrible) and a two entire Games Workshop systems built around it, they can do the same amount, if not tons more sets than Starwars. Honestly if you look in the big scheme of things LOTR has a ton more to pull from than Star Wars does.

Star Wars is the move successful media franchise out there, and I'm not saying that becasue I'm a fan, becasue it has been deemed that by Hollywood and other corporations out there. LEGO has countless set opportunities, not just on the movies, but the large realm of EU as well. They just chose not to do anything, take TOR for example. Huge, but LEGO doesn't want to do anything with it. That's the main problem, LEGO just doesn't want to expand with it, and sticks to making more and more sets that were sold a long time ago. LOTR doesn't have as large of a fan base as SW for sure, but LEGO constantly focuses on these other odd 1-year licenses than SW, which is their most successful theme. It's not the products, stories, and movies surrounding these themes, it's how LEGO executes them, and they've been slacking with SW for years. (ever science 09, really)

Sorry for perpetuating the off-topicness, but maybe we should make a thread for this kind of discussion.

We all know LEGO could do amazing things with SW and their fanbase is huge, I actually got into lego SW before I even watched the movies, and, dare I say it, if not for the lego star wars theme I wouldn't be in film school right now, but there's a few differences from what lego SW was in 1999 and what it is now.

I recall getting a bunch of big sets, mainly the gungan sub and the sith infiltrator and here's what me, my dad and my brother did.

We'd get home from toys'r'us after we had picked our favorite set that was within our monthly budget(this was back when sets weren't that expensive and my dad didn't earn has much as he does now, plus it was before we moved so we didn't have to pay the bank's loans) and we'd just carefully open the box and empty it on the ground, me and my brother would disregard the numbered bags while my dad found the best place to put the set's box on our pile(which I now nicknamed, "show-off mountain").

we'd grab a few glasses of water and start working, we didn't have consoles or tv's on our bedroom and we spent the afternoon building and playing with the minifigure's, and it was great.

Building medium sized ships with my father and my brother's help are among the fondest memories I have from my childhood, and that is probably why I still buy and build alot.

The problem is simple, lego started getting more complicated and expensive.

I'm not blaming the price on lego, mainly since, even though we all love George Lucas, we must realize he milks money from everything... heck he lives in "Skywalker Ranch"... and we all "NOOOOOO" about the blu-ray releases...

But complication has lego written all over it, and the problem is, even though the sets look better than ever, they stopped blending with the original ones released back in 99, just look at the latest sith infiltrator, it's got nothing on the 99 version...

I wish lego had kept it simple and inventive, and if they want to complicate it, at least do it correctly, don't do that old crappy thing you always do, don't go make the outside of the ship something beautiful and then make the interior garbage... JUST LOOK AT THESE UCS SETS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, THEY CHARGE 500 BUCKS FOR A MILLENNIUM FALCON WITHOUT AN INTERIOR!

I just made my little rant and I wish to end it in the following manner:We need to get a lego ambassador over here to talk to lego for us, stop complicating, go back to fun, non-gimmicky builds that united families around a table, looking at pieces trying to figure out where they go, I must say that was far more fun than looking at a wing and saying "it goes here" before opening the instruction booklet, go back to making interesting never before seen sets, instead of repackaging the same thing, adding new pieces, putting 2 or 3 exclusive figures and charging 50 more bucks...

I have no idea how it happened, but there are now pictures. Before I link these.. They can not be posted on the site, because they are marked CONFIDENTIAL they can not be hosted on a public site. As far as I know they are OK to be hosted on a Private folder, like the Dropbox I am linking.

Octan wrote:I have no idea how it happened, but there are now pictures. Before I link these.. They can not be posted on the site, because they are marked CONFIDENTIAL they can not be hosted on a public site. As far as I know they are OK to be hosted on a Private folder, like the Dropbox I am linking.

Honestly, the smaller sets don't look that great. I was honestly hoping for more sets of The Shire, and more Hobbits. But the Larger sets look good, considering these are only the first pictures we are seeing.

I'm personally getting tired of this, and if you two don't stop, I will do whatever I can within my power to ensure you two end it. I am seriously that ticked at this point. If this was EB both of you would be banned by now.